The King is dead, long live the Blues Boy. B. B. King was a great performer who respected his audience and loved his work. We like to think we bring that same attitude to what we do. We're just a couple of poky little singers with a guitar, big deal. But we love to connect with people. We like making people think a little more, feel a little better, see the world with a happier heart. We are fully aware of the insignificance of what we are and what we do, but if we can make one sad soul just a little bit brighter, it's time well spent. Live what you got. F&A

Frankie & Annette are on the verge of becoming a Major Corporate Entity. You know, or not. We found a bass player and drummer and suddenly we're a dance band. You could dance to us before but you had to imagine the bass and drums necessary to shake what God give ya. You don't have to do that now. You can do what you want to do, whenever you're listening to us and the only people you'll embarrass are your kids. They'll get over it.

David The Hammer Mompean, above left, does sales and marketing for Music-Go-Round in Stockton. He's a Taurus with a moon rising in Scorpio (look out, ladies!) and digs James Joyce, sharp shoes, making a stupefyingly good salsa and his cat, MeOuch. He is the rhythm of love.

Robert Gimlet Ehardt (air - t), top right, gave you his deets last entry but doesn't believe in astrology so...there you go. He runs, he bikes, he swims; he basically vibrates like one of those things they give you in restaurants to let you know your table's ready. Like, always. Bzzzzzzt.

Together they have become von Zipper, and a more potent force for rhythmic good in the Universe we cannot imagine. They have learned half the bazillion songs in our set list and are poised to learn the other half. They are trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and irreverent, yet neither have ever been Boy Scouts. It's genetic, maybe. Check the Events page. We are, as ever - F&A

Holy crap, what time is it? Why didn't somebody wake me up? It's October? I'm gonna have to cut back on the Old Number 7. Whew!

Ennyway, here we is. Long summer, huh? It's over. Yeah it was busy, hell yes, we went everywhere, we did everything and time just seemed to dis a peer. As it will. On the upside, we got us new bass player (it's pronounced "base"), Robert Ehardt (pronounced "airt") and he brings new blood to the enterprise. That's him in the pirate hat (don't ask) with the Handsome Stranger on the far end. Bwob is a distance runner and cyclist, looks a lot like Steve Jobs, GRHS, and is some kind of an engineer in his day job. Engineer of Love, I believe. He's a quick study and a stud quickly. Don't hate me for being clever.

We're also looking for a drummer and a piano player so we can be louder, stronger and faster than anybody else. You know our name; look up the number. Cheerios - F&A

There isn't anything you can say about the tragedy at the Boston Marathon and the events that followed. It is all tragic and awful and stupid. We're just two little people with a guitar singing songs and what we have to give amounts to very little but for what it's worth our hearts are absolutely broken in half by the brutality and horror of this senseless act. Love one another - F&A

Remember that CD we've been promising you all these many months? Well, it shipped. Today. From Pennsauken, New Jersey, where we had it made. What took it so long, you might ask? A little thing our meteorologist pals called Hurricane Sandy. The wind blew, the water rose, the rafters shook, as life and limb hung in the very balance, not to mention our CD getting finished. Scary, huh? But it seems the Man Upstairs had bigger plans for the likes of us. And you.

Now, thanks to the Pennsauken Miracle (a recognized, scientific FACT), coupled with the latest and most screamingly modern audio and CD replication technology on our planet, you, your own self, will have the opportunity to listen to Frankie & Annette every breathing moment of your existence. At work, at play, making out with your Significant Other, it's completely hands free! You can listen to it when you're asleep! What was the last thing this good that took so little effort?

It's called "Seriously" (seriously) and will be available for the first time ever (like, ever) at our Saturday gig January 19th at Lodi Wine Cellar. Tell your friends. Tell everybody in your family and people you don't know. This thing is the result of a recognized, scientific, miracle, for crying out loud! You ignore something like this at your peril. It's not a threat, we're just sayin'...

We know what you're thinking. We do. "So where's your big, stupid CD? Hello, it's August." We knew it was going to be tough, you knew that. Some things, of real worth, take time. We didn't want to give you anything that wasn't our very best. And we're so close. It SHOULD be this month.

We did come up with a great excuse, though. Check this out: "seamless playback." We can't get the production version to give us seamless playback. Every stinking production software we use is inserting a two second dead space between every cut. So, you know, Annette tells a really funny joke, then there's this looong pause (the seam) and then everybody laughs like crazy. Not good. The national team and our research associates in New York, Moscow and Rio de Janeiro are doing everything humanly and digitally possible to resolve this crucial and totally unacceptable technological dictate. The machines will not win.

In other news: Jane Lopez won the big What Are We contest. So now when your friends ask you: "What kind of music is Frankie & Annette? Is it pop or country, or what?" You can look 'em in the eye, raise a condescending brow and say with a faint, knowing smile, "They call it "eclecto." They will think you are so smart.

Janie will receive a copy of the CD (see above), two songs sung, anywhere she wants (within 20 miles of downtown Lodi) and an autographed shaker egg. See what you didn't win for not even trying? Who still loves ya? - F&A

Yup. We're sellin' out. Giving up, buying in, call it what you will. It's over. Remember all that high-minded smoke we were blowing last year about "Doin' it for the people" and "Staying true to our roots" and all that? Done. Finished. We have thrown in the towel. Succumbed to the siren song. We submit; surrender, with a sour taste and a glazed look. You won't have to come see us play live ANYMORE!

Not with the new Frankie & Annette live recording at the Lodi Wine Cellar, you won't. You can have us 24/7/365 for the rest of your natural life. Imagine yourself showering up to Endlesssummer, whistling along with Two For the Road as you whip up a rack of those homemade enchiladas, opening a bottle of wine and casting a smoldering look at your significant other to the strains of Closer. Oh yeah, baby. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we're working on our recording (July release) and we're trying to figure out what we would call our music. We like Country but we're not. Our stuff is Poppy but it's a little too complicated to be adored by 14 year old girls and I play 9ths and diminished 7ths so we're kind of jazzy but you wouldn't call it Jazz. At the same performance, the Haggin in March, one guy told us we sounded like seminal punk band X and a woman with two kids said we reminded her of Broadway mucky muck Stephen Sondheim. There is no easy answer.

You can see where we're going here. We need the defining adjective; the word or phrase that encapsulates what we sound like. Are we Pink Mockers? Do we play County Wastern? Is it Jeez? We don't really know, but you might. So, squeeze those brains and come up with the definitive F&A phraseoid and YOU will be showered with gifts beyond description. Kind of. You'll get a autographed copy of the disk and we'll go to the place of your choice, within, say, a 30 mile radius and we'll sing you a song or two. Talk about getting drenched!

Reply back in the comments section and slap your name on everything so we know who you are. Untold riches await. Yup, it's gonna be that good. Lub y'all - F

The Lodi Wine Cellar live cuts are really funny. The banter, I mean. That we are quirky I already knew. That we are funny is a revelation... we do and say things I can't even remember doing. It's kinda' like a blackout, but we are totally sober.Thankfully, our audience is fabulously open-minded and joins in...the banter, not the blackouts. Thank goodness Marsha masks my inability to pony, and Sal and Jane are so cute singing along...they need mics. The party continues this Saturday night- Lodi Wine Cellar. We are writing new material- can't wait to spring it on you! - A.

The recording bash at LWC Friday last was sweet. David Qualls gave us a beautiful set up and the sound quality, what I’ve heard so far, is very clear. Endlesssummer has a great intro: lawn sprinkler, fire truck, car alarm, new arrivals, and somebody dropped a glass. We never missed a beat. This is definitely going on the CD. We also did a great version of a new tune, Bruce Channel’s (pronounced shu-NELL) Hey Baby, that the Handsome Stranger knocked out of the park, which also might make the cut. Thank you, Stranger.

Speakin’ of strangers, it is good to see Paige and Alan back on the map. They are two for the road if ever there were; really nice people and easy to look at. Jukeoke veteran Marsha got up and did a solid Nancy Sinatra with Nettles on These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ and let me tell you, the girl can pony.

Sorry we had so much gear in the room (I kept getting smacked in the lip by my bouncing microphone) but this Saturday will be back to the usual LWC living room feel and we hope to see you there. We might have a new song ready, Vino Es Vida, so if you’re not doing anything else you know where to go. We are Lodi’s best entertainment value – F.